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Chimborazo

Volcanic Formations

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Chimborazo stands in the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes in central Ecuador, reaching an elevation of about 6,263 meters, the highest mountain in the country. It is a dormant, ice-capped stratovolcano built from layered andesitic lava flows and pyroclastic deposits, with no eruption confirmed in recorded history, though some geologists place its last activity within the past several thousand years. Because Earth bulges outward at the equator and Chimborazo sits only about one degree south of it, the mountain's summit is the point on the planet's surface farthest from Earth's center, a distinction greater than Mount Everest's despite Everest's greater height above sea level. Its slopes carry permanent glaciers that have retreated significantly in recent decades, and the mountain lends its name to Ecuador's surrounding Chimborazo Province. This entity documents Chimborazo specifically as a geological formation, a dormant glaciated stratovolcano whose summit is the farthest point on Earth's surface from the planet's center.

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